Three Artist's draw leaves!
Three of you sent me work late yesterday - I hope you all don't mind if I put them up in this one post. All three artists have done interesting work. Autumn has arrived.
Monika
Monika created her leaf drawing in her Visual Diary on cartirdge paper using watercolour pencil (no brand given), Derwent Graphitint and 2B graphite. She tells me she did not realise how quickly a fallen leaf would loose colour and dry out once inside! Drawing from life can have its difficulties, but gives you the advantages of seeing the item in it's natural state, not influenced or distorted by a camera lens. Monika fears she did not succeed as well as she wished - I think she is being a little too hard on herself. The leaf shape is very good, the hues and colour transitions work very well. The indenting of the veins works well. Although the shadow is a bit darker than I prefer, it works well to lift the leaf off the page and give the shape form.
I do believe that working on the cartridge paper of a visual diary has disappointed Monika somewhat. The graininess of the cartridge makes it difficult to work on, creating a rougher texture. Also, cartridge is not easy to work with in water mediums as it is so absorbant. In spite of the support used I think this is still a good observational drawing of a leaf.
Jean
Jean has done both challenges - the first is her Autumn leaf created using Derwent watercolour pencils with graphite shading on Arches 300gsm Hot Press. The leaf shape is good and the supporting graphite leafs create a good overall composition. The colour leaf has been slightly overworked. I suspect that Jean overwashed her colours somewhat and then did not wait quite long enough for them to completely dry before adding another layer of hue. This is quite a common trap and one I have fallen into myself quite often! However, Jean has quite a free and expressive style of drawing and on the whole the leaf has a nice loosely stylised effect that works very well. A note on the graphite leaves - some indenting has been done in the veins but it has not quite matched up to the line and shading in areas. It can be difficult to remember where you have put that darn indent!
'Leaf study' by Jean
Her second work is a maple tree study on Strathmore Toned Tan 118gsm paper using Staedtler Pastel Pencil Sepia set and Carbethello pastel pencils in maroon and yellow. This was the first time that Jean has attempted pastel pencils and I think she should be very happy with the result. She has instinctively realised that hue needs to built up in blocks of colour from light to dark. As well Jean soon realised the level of detail you can achieve with pastel pencils is not as fine as that of graphite or colour pencils. Instead she has let the blocks of color and tones build up to form the impression of detail creating satisfying leaf shapes with good colour. She has finished it off with some crisply drawn branch lines highlighted in white. The overall tree shape is good and the branching limbs 'grow' from the trunk in a believable manner. It could have been very easy to overwork this drawing, but she has held back and let the colours and line tell the story in an uncomplicated way. A lovely small work.
I really think that pastel pencils suit Jean's style of working and hope she continues to explore the medium.
'Maple tree' by Jean
JD
JD tells me that she found this subject harder this week and is not totally satisfied with the result. Again, I think she is another who is being too hard on herself! Using 300gsm Hot press with Derwent watercolour pencils and a 4B Faber Castell graphite she had created a very realistic looking maple leaf in autumn colours. Working with this technique of wash and dry on hot press paper can be difficult and it can be harder to layer. Her wash layer works very well, just enough dampness to the wathercolour pencil to blur and soften the colours together without getting muddy. JD was worried that she had overworked the drawing but I think she has just held back enough, creating translucent layers of colours that are accentuated by the dry colour and touches of tonal graphite. I certainly think that her cast shadow on this leaf is the best of all the shadow work I have seen so far this week. The indenting on the veins with the assistance of the magenta linework gives just the right level of detail.
I would love to see JD explore this technique a little more in another drawing, experiment with pushing and pulling the colours in the wash state. Maybe adding some compimentary colour (blues, violets) in the dry work. It doesn't need to be another leaf JD! You've done quite well with this but don't stop now!
'Maple leaf' by JD
Her second work is a tree drawing in pastel pencils, and for her it was also the first time using this medium. She has used Art Spectrum Color Fix smooth Fresh Grey as her support and Faber Castell Pitt Pastels as a medium. The Pitt set she has only contains 13 colours which she has used effectively. The tree shape is very good, capturing the pollarded Birch well. As it was her first attempt with this medium she can be forgiven for 'outlining' individual leaves and colouring them in - I find a better result is achieved by creating splotches and blocks of colour first, then adding linework on top to give detail. Remember JD, you don't have to draw each individual leaf on a tree! You have recognised this in the trunk and branches and the white highlight there works well. The addition of dark blue or violet in both the trunk and grass would also help, but you may not have those colours in your set. Yellow and blue in the grass in upward strokes would create a more grass-like effect that a solid block of horizontal green.
On the whole this drawing is a good, quick study of a tree in full autumn colours. The shape and colours are well observed, as is the bark on the trunk. As your first experimentation with the medium I think you have done well. I hope you continue to explore and push the medium more, pastel pencils are a lot of fun to use and are quite effective. Why not try that leaf again in pastel pencils?
Check out the video links below for some good demos in using this medium.
'Autumn Tree' by JD
Good video to watch - see how he uses his black! : Virtual Instructor
Colin Bradley is pretty good too.
No comments:
Post a Comment